Which performance in history do you wish you'd been at?

[Nick Armstrong]

There are loads to choose from, but it might be interesting to read which single performance in the history of music people wish they could have attended.

The apparent 'dream concert' is of course that 22 December 1808 event at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna at which Beethoven premièred his 4th Piano Concerto, the 5th and 6th Symphonies, the Choral Fantasy plus other vocal and choral works. Well... yes... but it was apparently quite a shambles, freezing cold... I suspect it would have been rather a tragic spectacle as well as (obviously) fascinating.

No, my current "wish I'd been there" concert is the one at Carnegie Hall on 16 January 1910 when Rachmaninov played the second (or third, depending what authority you read) performance of his 3rd Piano Concerto with the New York Phil conducted by.... Mahler

A much better performance than the world première the previous autumn under Damrosch, apparently, with Rachmaninov recounting that Mahler and the orchestra happily practised the piece way beyond the supposed finish time for the rehearsal.

Would I have been waiting round the back to get my programme signed? ... I think so!!!

This was the complete programme:

16 January 1910

New York Philharmonic
Gustav Mahler, conductor
Sergei Rachmaninov, piano

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3
Bach: Suite (arr. Mahler)
Wagner: “Prelude and Liebestod” from Tristan & Isolde
Smetana: Bartered Bride Overture

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well it has to be the first performance of Elgar's 1st Symphony on 3rd December, 1908 with the Halle Orchestra, conducted by Hans Richter - perhaps Elgar's most successful premiere.

[salymap]

I would like to have been present at the first complete performance of Smetana's 'Ma Vlast' or the first complete performance of Holst's 'Planets'. Presumably the Smetana in Prague and Holst in London. I'm being lazy as I could google them but it would be interesting to see what immediate impact these great works made and to have been in the audience.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

I'd have liked to have been at Covent Garden for Joan Sutherland's Lucia in 1959, or the first night of the Visconti Don Carlos with Boris Christoff et al, which would have caused a stir, but if I could choose just one, how about the premiere of The Rite of Spring?!

[vinteuil]

I think Potsdam 7 May 1747, Bach's meeting with Frederick II, at which he 'improvised' the Musical Offering....

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Does that mean he wrote it down later from memory?

[vinteuil]

Does that mean he wrote it down later from memory?

At Frederick's request, Bach improvised a three-part fugue on a theme provided by the King. The King then asked him to create a six-part fugue on the same theme: Bach demurred, saying he wd have to go away and work on it. Bach subsequently sent the King a volume containing the three-part fugue (presumably more-or-less what he had improvised), the six part Ricercar, and the various other canons that go to make up the Musical Offering.

[Nick Armstrong]

... the premiere of The Rite of Spring?!

Another obvious one, like the Beethoven, but, yup - a goodie!

Makes you realise that being around between 1900 and 1914, with good contacts in various box offices, plenty of cash and a passport would have been pretty amazing, wouldn't it? Rach 3 and the Rite, Elgar 1 with Alps! plus lots of Mahler symphonies and other concerts by him... tons of others.

[Roehre]

The first time Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame was performed, Paris , Christmas 1363,
or the first time Perotinus' Viderunt Omnes was sung, Christmas 1199.

[Mr Pee]

The premiere of Rachmaninov's First Symphony, to confirm whether Glazunov really was rat-a***d when he conducted it, and if it really was as bad as people say. And I would love to have seen Patrice Chereau's Ring Cycle at Bayreuth.

[Nick Armstrong]

The first time Machaut's Messe de Nostre Dame was performed, Paris , Christmas 1363.

Don't forget your thermals, Mr R...

The premiere of Rachmaninov's First Symphony, to confirm whether Glazunov really was rat-a***d when he conducted it, and if it really was as bad as people say.

[Norfolk Born]

The first performance of VW's 'Tallis Fantasia'. Not just because it's a wonderful piece and has long been a favourite of mine for musical and non-musical reasons, but also to watch the reaction of all those impatiently waiting for the Elgar to start.
The premiere of the 'Leningrad' symphony must also have been pretty special, and the same could be said of the first performance of the Quartet For The End of Time. (I'm not sure I would have liked to be there, unless I'd got a pretty cast-iron guarantee as to my medium- and hopefully long-term future).

[Roehre]

The premiere of the 'Leningrad' symphony must also have been pretty special, and the same could be said of the first performance of the Quartet For The End of Time....

How much I like the Quartet, I am afraid I wouldn't like to be inside the German PoW-camp where it was composed and performed... .

Caliban, I'll take my thermals to the Cathedral, as I would to that premiere-filled night with Beethoven works

[Petrushka]

Obvious, maybe, but I would have loved to have been at the premiere of Mahler's 8th on September 12 1910. Also agree with EA about the Elgar 1 and the Stravinsky Rite of Spring on May 29 1913 must have been a hoot though whether I would have heard any of the music is open to question.

The 1876 premiere of Wagner's Ring at Bayreuth would have been fascinating and what about Tchaikovsky's 6th just before he died? I would have liked to have been at the 1824 Vienna premiere of Beethoven 9 to see if Caroline Unger really did turn round the deaf composer to see the tumultuous applause.

[EdgeleyRob]

Beethoven 9 and the Rite of Spring premieres for sure.

Also I would have loved to see the looks on the faces of the audience at the 1936 concert featuring the premieres of RVW 5 Tudor Portraits and Brittens Our Hunting fathers.